Fans of the great poet John Milton will gather from far and wide at the University of Queensland later this month to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his birth.
Excerpts from his works – including passages from his epic poem Paradise Lost – will be read aloud at A Life Beyond Life, a free public event to be held at Duchesne College at UQ on Sunday, August 17.
Festivities run from 10am – 4pm and will be opened by the Honourable Matt Foley, former Queensland Minister for the Arts.
Event organiser Dr Peter Holbrook said the celebrations would commemorate Milton’s extraordinary poetic achievement.
“Milton is one of the most ambitious and prodigiously talented literary geniuses ever to have lived; among English writers only Shakespeare matches him for sheer imaginative splendour and dazzling command of the language," Dr Holbrook said.
“He was also a courageous and militant champion of the causes of liberty and equality. His passionate love of freedom, and hatred of tyranny, is a message we still need to hear.”
A central focus of the day is to explore the experience of hearing, rather than silently reading, Milton’s poetry.
Readers will include well known author and UQ alumnus David Malouf, award-winning poets Anthony Lawrence and Jaya Savige, actor Eugene Gilfedder and members of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Dr Holbrook said the reading day will show that Milton is, as the famous poet William Wordsworth once hoped, still “living at this hour”.
“We hope that this event will not only bring public attention to one of the most sublime poets of the English language, but also be fun,” Dr Holbrook said.
The morning part of the program will showcase selections from the earlier part of Milton’s career, while the afternoon will feature selections from Paradise Lost.
As well as marking Milton’s birth in 1608, A Life Beyond Life will wrap up an international symposium at the University concerned with “Milton in Intellectual and Cultural History”.
Professor Stephen M Fallon of the University of Notre Dame in the US, a major contemporary scholar of Milton, will also deliver a public lecture on the poet’s work on August 14 entitled “Why Milton is Not a Religious Writer.”
The symposium is supported by the School of English, Media Studies and Art History, the Centre for the History of European Discourses, the Australian Research Council Network for Early European Research and the Shakespeare Roundtable interest group.
Media: Dr Holbrook (0423 524 186, 07 3365 3215 p.holbrook@uq.edu.au), Meegan Capsopoulos (0400551236, meegancapsopoulos@hotmail.com) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)
